It is known to use magnetic bearings which, in normal operation, maintain a rotor or a shaft in a centered radial position inside the stator without mechanical contact between the rotor and the stator by using magnetic levitation. Magnetic bearings comprise electromagnets powered electrically by appropriate circuits to servo-control the radial position of the rotor in the stator.
The effectiveness with which the rotor is held radially inside the stator is determined by the force delivered by the electromagnets, and this requires the electromagnets to be stably powered with sufficient electrical energy.
If there is an interruption in the supply of electricity to the electromagnets or if large radial or axial forces suddenly act on the shaft or the rotor supported by the magnetic bearing, the latter may no longer be able to center the rotor and a “landing” state occurs in which the rotor changes from being held in a state without mechanical contact to being held in a state with mechanical contact.
During such landing, the rotor tends to come into contact with the stator. Because the rotor or the shaft is spinning very fast in usual applications, e.g. at more than 30,000 revolutions per minute (rpm), such contact can lead to the device including the magnetic bearing being destroyed.
To solve this problem, magnetic bearing applications have already been fitted with secondary mechanical bearings for landing purposes, which are usually referred to as landing bearings.
Since magnetic bearings usually run at very high speed, the emergency stop (sliding) power is usually high. This high stop power requires high wear resistance and low friction on the landing bearing. Due to limitation of the space and for cost reasons, sliding plain bearings are preferred over rolling bearings, especially for small active magnetic bearing systems.
Oil lubrication to provide hydrodynamic lubrication for a sliding bearing requires a large space and an expensive sealing system. Grease lubrication is difficult to seal, since grease will be pushed out due to the conforming contact of the sliding bearing. To overcome damage from high sliding power, advanced coatings, such as diamond-like-carbon (DLC) have been recommended to coat the inner ring or the sleeve for the plain bearing, which however significantly increases the cost of the landing bearing.